Election 2018 Action Plan

Our city is becoming increasingly unaffordable and income inequality is widening faster than ever before. People, communities, and an entire generation are being squeezed out. We know that the decisions made at city hall and the school board can either take our city along a more progressive path or down a deepening divide.

In the new term of city council and the TDSB, we will need to organize to win key votes. This election matters to our work. To build a more progressive city, we need to unseat some of the most conservative politicians and get progressive candidates elected so that we can win council and school board votes.

That’s why Progress Toronto is working in key school board and city council races across the city.

We are choosing races where we:

Can help to unseat some of the worst candidates by informing thousands of voters of their record

Know we can deliver the last bloc of votes to help progressive candidates win

In some wards, we can best help progressives win by focusing on the work they can’t do — focussing our efforts on making sure residents know the voting records and ethical conduct of some of city council’s worst councillors and candidates.

By getting the word out about some of the city’s worst councillors, we are making space for a progressive candidate to introduce themselves and their vision to voters, so they don’t have to spend their time talking about councillors like Giorgio Mammoliti and Mark Grimes. We’re taking that on so they don’t have to.

In other wards, our role will be to get out the vote of the tens of thousands of progressive voters we have already identified through our work to stop Ford this summer.

To do all of this, we have registered with the city as a third party campaign. That means we have a $25,000 city-wide spending limit and only a few weeks to raise the money needed to help win in these key races.

CONTEXT

The new Premier, Doug Ford, has done his best to throw our local elections into chaos to distract us from the work that matters: electing Progressive Champions to city hall and the school board. Progress Toronto took a leadership role in fighting back and mobilizing tens of thousands of people to take action against Ford. And now we need to make sure we win at the ballot box and elect Progressive Champions on October 22.

In slashing city council mid election from 47 wards to 25 wards, Ford eliminated “open” races across the city — wards where there are no elected city councillors running for office and where many new candidates from historically underrepresented communities were registered as candidates.

Ford has handed us 25 wards and many races with progressive candidates now running against each other — candidates who never intended to run in the same ward. The same can be said for many other wards in the city where conservative incumbent councillors are running against each other as well.

What we’ve done to get here:

With only a few weeks remaining, we have done our best to stay focused on how we, in our first ever campaign, can make the difference.

we took a deep look at races and candidates across the city

we asked ourselves where we could make the difference and what work we could do, given our own strengths and weaknesses, to make that difference in key races as a new third party organization

we surveyed candidates running for city council and the TDSB asking them to commit to progressive priorities for Toronto

we reviewed voting and attendance records of incumbents nominated as villains

we narrowed it down to 14 wards - 6 city council and 8 TDSB school board wards. This includes working to unseat 5 of city council’s worst councillors.

Click on one of our target wards below to find out more about our work there.

Our work is focused on target wards where we know we can make the difference. Even if you live in another ward, please volunteer with us to help unseat some of our worst councillors and help to get new progressive candidates elected! Sign up to volunteer at progresstoronto.ca/volunteer. To find out about candidates in other wards and where they stand on important issues visit this great resource by the Toronto Public Library https://www.knowyourvoteto.ca/.